The QT: Who Sarah Palin is palling around with, Florida's pest invasions, and more

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Zay N. Smith

last updated 8 January 2015

News Headline: "Trust in Fox News hits record low"

News Headline: "Sarah Palin rejoins Fox News"

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We Have Seen the Present, and It Does Not Work:

Among the words the NSA finds suspicious when monitoring our emails are "freedom" and "dictionary."

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News Item: "... nothing short of a political circus..."

News Item: "... on the political merry-go-round..."

News Item: "... fiscal high-wire acts..."

News Item: "... after some diplomatic juggling..."

We must be having more fun than we thought.

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News Headline: "Obese black-hole galaxies could reveal quasar secrets."

A word to astronomers:

Ease up. Black-hole galaxies have feelings, too.

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News Headline: "Giant snails invade, threaten Florida"

News Headline: "Monster mosquitoes emerge in central Florida"

Add the more than 1 million Floridians with concealed-carry permits, and you have a summer traveler's paradise.

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News Headline: "The NSA and our Great Surveillance Society."

K. Weiszhaar, a Denver reader, writes:

"It's 10 p.m. Does your government know where you are?"

But look on the bright side:

At least our version of Big Brother is no good at keeping secrets.

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News Headline: "Kim Jong Un visits pig farm."

News Headline: "Kim Jong Un gives field guidance to fish farm."

News Headline: "Kim Jong Un visits liquor factory."

It was only a matter of time.

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News Item: " ...researchers found that individuals who could gain monetarily through unethical behavior were more likely to demonstrate that behavior than those who weren't offered a financial gain..."

Are we running out of things to study?

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News Headline: "Paris Hilton's album 'almost finished'"

It has been 2,188 days since Paris Hilton announced she would be leaving public life.

Not that anyone is counting...

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QT Grammar R Us Seminar on the English Language:

W.S., an Evanston, Ill., reader, regarding QT's mention that the "lion's share" of something is not most of it, but all of it, writes:

"Is a politician's allotted speaking time the lyin's share?"

Your grammar is impeccable.

Write to QT at zaysmith.qt@gmail.com

QT appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Zay N. Smith is a Chicago writer. Before starting the QT column he worked at the Chicago Sun-Times as a reporter, foreign correspondent and writer of major features. He has also worked as a bartender, having played a key role in the 1978 Mirage Tavern investigation, in which the newspaper operated an undercover bar to document the breaking of many laws by many officials.